The 22-year-old entertainer told The Fader last month, “If I would sing a hook or a verse slightly R&B, or slightly myself, it would always be recorded 50 times until there was a straight version that was pop, generic as f—, so they could use that version. Whenever I would suggest something, it was like it didn’t fit us.”

“There was just a general conception that the management already had of what they want for the band, and I just wasn’t convinced with what we were selling,” Zayn continued. “I wasn’t 100 percent behind the music. It wasn’t me. It was music that was already given to us, and we were told this is what is going to sell to these people. As much as we were the biggest, most famous boy band in the world, it felt weird. We were told to be happy about something that we weren’t happy about.”

Simon gave an interview toThe Mirror, where he was asked about Zayn‘s comments.

“It is a bit rude to the people who wrote all the hits with them. And to the other band members. I mean they all wrote a lot of the stuff,” Simon said. “I think once he has had a chance to reflect on everything he will probably reconsider what he’s said because it was a very, very democratic process in the band.”